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Monday, 5 November 2018

Right, last week I had my first whole week off since....since I can't actually remember the last time I had a full week off...maybe it was when I just moved back from Paris, I think it was. Anyway, I digress, as I was saying, last week I finally had a full week off, coinciding with a lot of half terms so my housemate and very good friend Emma could go away for a few days as cheaply as possible as we were both feeling painfully skint. So, after much haggling and lowering of expectations, we both realised that as much as we had travelled globally, we hadn't really explored our own backyard that much, and thus we settled on a 3 day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Royal Mile

Scotland is somewhere I've had on my bucket list for aaaaggessss, partly due to my obsession with Outlander, partly because I love the Scottish accent, and partly because everyone who goes there always comes back with tales about how great it was, and as it is so close, I knew I had to go and see it for myself.

We had it all booked, a cheap Ryanair (boo) early morning flight from Stanstead to Edinburgh, returning two days later and staying in a budget Airbnb room, all costing about £80 each...not bad for a city break. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, no romantic reasoning except the fact that Emma seems to actually enjoy working with children who manage to make her ill at the most inconvenient times, so she actually didn't make it up to the highlands with me. In the end, I called on my mother who jumped on the train and came to join me.

Staying in our Airbnb on Albany Street meant that we were within walking distance to most of the sights of Edinburgh.

Wandering down the Royal Mile, past the sound of bagpipes and further into the heart of the city to the George IV bright, in true tourist fashion, we headed to The Elephant House Cafe for breakfast - this cafe was supposedly the place where JK Rowling first wrote Harry Potter - whether this tale is true or not is neither here nor there, but one thing about The Elephant House is its breathtaking view of Edinburgh Castle.

From here, we headed to the Dovecot Gallery, an old swimming baths-turned-gallery, which is currently housing an exhibition of Liberty fabrics - very niche for those who like fashion and textiles, but even a complete novice like me can appreciate the beautifully patterned fabrics and dresses from 1920/30s all the way through to modern day.

Following this, no touristy visit to Edinburgh could be complete without a trip to the castle, so braving the biting winds, up to the castle we went. Seeing the Scottish Crown jewels were cool enough, but the best part was definitely the Victoria sponge cake and royal tea in the tea rooms - 10/10 would eat again!

View from Edinburgh Castle

For those on a budget, a great place to go in Edinburgh that I ended up in twice was the Scottish National Gallery, free to enter, it has some pretty cool paintings, and for someone like me who struggles to enjoy galleries to say it, means it must be good.

Great restaurants to check out in Edinburgh that we tried were:

- Chaophraya: a Thai restaurant on George Street, averagely priced, good portions, busy so worth booking - even on a Wednesday night in October, but the selling point of this place is deffo the city views over Edinburgh, and on a good day you can see all the way to Fife!

- The Magnum: serving traditional Scottish food with a modern uplift, located on Albany Street, I would recommend the Fish and Chips, and the Cullen Skink - classic Scottish creamy fish chowder.

- The White Witch; an Italian/Scottish Bistro on Broughton Street, this place seems to be open all hours, the lunch and dinner menu looked mouthwatering, but I had the veggie breakfast, served with fresh tomatoes and classic Italian balsamic vinegar which was utterly delicious!

If you do decide to take a city break in Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Playhouse is worth checking out as they have some great off-London performances for half the price, especially for under-25s midweek. We saw a great rendition of Saturday Night Fever that had me siging all the way home!

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Welcome to my website, please feel free to have a look around and enjoy! My name is Kate and I am part-time The Basic Traveller and full-time I work at the British Red Cross as a Technical Team Co-ordinator, so if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch!